Winter weather is ransacking the Chicago metro area and parts of Indiana as the region experiences one of winter’s most brutal weather phenomena: lake-effect snow. Heavy snow covered the area Sunday night into Monday morning, with more than a foot of snow recorded by mid-Monday.

Lake-effect snow forms when warm, unfrozen lake water and cold air meet. Some of the lake water evaporates into the air, making it warmer and wetter. Once that air moves inland, that moisture cools and turns into snow.

If the wind is blowing over large portions of one of the Great Lakes, the storm system will take in more water. The greater the temperature difference between the winds and water, the more moisture is absorbed into the atmosphere.

This type of snow storm is most common in the Great Lakes regio

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